Method of filling and closing cans



July 26, 1938. V EL 2,124,959

METHOD OF FILLING AND CLOSING CANS Filed Aug. 8, 1936 I .2;" III I II IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM vENTOR NEY Patented July 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF FILLING AND CLOSING CANS William Martin Vogel, Bloomfield, N. J. Application August 8, 1936, Serial No. 94,895

. 1 Claim.

This invention relates to cans and a method of making and filling the same, and has for its object the provision of means whereby a maximum quantity of air may be evacuated from the can prior to the sealing operation.

At the present time beer is being packed in cans and one of the greatest difiiculties encountered is that of completely or at least nearly completely evacuatingthe maximum quantity of air from the can. The failure to uniformly evacuate the air results in lack of uniformity of the contents of the can. In some cases an opened can produces beer of a decidedly fiat appearance and taste; while in other cases, an extremely frothy, aerated fiuid emanates. Experiments have shown that this lack of uniformity in canned beer is apparently due to the failure to eliminate or evacuate the greatest possible amount of air from the can during or after the filling operation, and prior to the sealing of the can.

The primary object therefore, of this invention, is to provide a can of such a construction, together with a method of filling and sealing such a can, which will eliminate the maximum quantity of air from the can, thereby completely, or nearly completely, filling the can with the liquid contents only. More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a can initially formed with an outwardly distended or dished bottom,

arranged to be reversely curved or distorted under pressure after the can is filled, thereby causing the liquid contents of the can to be bodilfy shifted toward the top of 'the can, causing said contents to displace and eject the air out of the can just prior to the sealing of the top of the can.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a can made in accordance with the invention, showing the same filled with beer or other liquid, and having the bottom attached and cover held in place preparatory to being sealed on the can; Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the bottom of the can being reversely curved to force the contents of the can toward the top and eject the air from the can; and Fig. 3 shows the sealed can.

In the drawing, 5 indicates the body of a can of conventional character, such as is used for containing beer or other contents. It is provided with a bottom 6 secured in position by the conventional scam I. The bottom, which is of course applied to the can body prior to the filling operation, is initially shaped as shown in Fig. 1. That is to say, it is of concavo-convex form, with its convex side 8 facing outwardly or downwardly. The can is next filled with its liquid contents 9 and the cover I0 is placed in position on top of the can in readiness to be sealed thereon. The marginal edge portion of the cover is provided with the flange H, which, when the cover is sealed in place interengages with the upper flangedv edge l2 on the can in the conventional manner. The cover is formed with the central dished portion I3 which is concave-convex, with its convex side facing toward the inside of the can.

When the top is held on the upper edge of the can, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it will be understood that the contacting surfaces of the upper edge of the can body and the flange l i of the top, do not provide an air-tight seal. Such air-tight seal is only attained when the top is seamed on.

With the parts of the can in the relationship shown in Fig. 1 and the cover held down on top of the can by any suitable clamping means, the bottom of the can is forced upwardly or reversed so that its normally convex side 8 is now rendered concave as shown at M in Fig. 2. The bottom is composed of sufliciently flexible metal to permit this reversal. Any suitable means may be utilized for reversing the bottom of the can, such as for example, a plunger l5 diagrammatically shown in Fig. 2.

When this reversal movement of the bottom of the can occurs, it will be obvious that this diminishes the containing capacity of the can and consequently the entire liquid contents of the can is bodily moved toward the top of the can, and any air located between the top of the liquid contents and the underside of the can top iii. as for example that located in the space l6, will be forced out between the top of the can and the cover ill. As soon as the bottom 6 is reversed or reshaped, as just described and the air thus evacuated, the cover is immediately sealed on by interlocking of the flanges II and I2 by conventional can sealing machinery.

The resultant filled can is shown in Fig. 3 and is one in which the greater quantity of air has been eliminated without requiring the use of a can of oversize appearance and without materially changing the conventional shape of cans of this character. Through the elimination of air as herein described, a uniform quality of contents of the cans is provided.

What I claim is:

In the method of filling a can, the steps of depositing the contents in the can, applying a pro-shaped dished top on the can with the convex side of said top directed inwardly or toward the inside of the can, mechanically forcing inwardly by external pressure an outwardly bulged bottom on the can without changing the direction of curvature of the dished top to cause the contents of the can to be moved bodily toward the top of the can and to cause said bottom only to assume a reverse curvature and become concaved while the cover maintains its pre-shaped dished condition and is in place on the can but unsealed thereon, and then sealing the can.

WILLIAM MARTIN VOGEL. 

